I Want To Be a Cop
by kuvira
Summary: Lin meets with her mother at work to ask her an important question. Toph has reservations and wonders if her daughter really knows what she's asking for.


Lin sat in one of the two chairs before Toph's desk, picking at her thumb. Waiting.

She heard the door swing open and turned around to see her mother, face worn with stress, walk inside with a manilla folder tucked under her left arm and a mug of tea in her right hand.

Toph walked straight past her daughter and stood behind her desk. She set her folder down to the left and her tea remained in her hands as she sat down in her chair, left leg folded over right thigh. She took a small sip and upturned her face towards Lin.

Lin saw her mother's face and sank lower into her seat. She looked down at her nail which she had picked down nearly to the flesh, then looked back at her mother and bit her bottom lip. "What flavor is that?"

"Jasmine." Toph replied flatly, sitting up straight in her chair and feeling every single one of her daughter's nervous heartbeats.

"Mom," Lin began, looking down at her grey leggings, "I want to be a cop so bad." She peeked back up at her mother without raising her head, and when Toph showed no change in expression she lowered her eyes down once more. She continued, "when you were raising us, I looked to you as a hero, and you were mine."

Toph's expression softened.

"I didn't understand why you weren't always there for me. I would be sad when you couldn't come to my honor roll ceremonies, I'd cry when you weren't waiting for me after school...but as I got older, I realized that you had a reason for everything you did. You worked so hard to keep Su and I safe, and I love you so much for that. I respect you so much for that, Mom." Her voice began to shake and she placed the trembling fingers of her left hand against her bottom lip, "you're such an amazing woman and I aspire to be like you so much, Mom."

Toph angled her eyes down.

"I want to be able to help protect the city that you've kept safe for all these years. I know this isn't what you had in mind for my life, but it's really what I want. Please let me pursue this…"

Toph took another sip of her tea and set it down in front of her. She leaned forward and set her elbows and palms on her desk, "Lin."

She looked up at her mother.

"Do you understand what you're asking for?"

Lin was silent.

"Are you prepared for the sacrifices associated with this job. Are you prepared to lay down your own life everyday for people you don't even know...people who may never thank you."

Lin looked down again and nodded, "I care about people."

"I know you do." she stood up and walked over to where Lin was sitting, grabbed the chair beside her and spun it around, then sat down. "Face me."

Lin stood up and turned the chair around so she was facing her mother.

Toph quickly reached forward and grabbed onto both arms of Lin's chair.

Lin flinched.

"Do you know what I've had to do on this job, Lin? Are you prepared to do what I've had to do on this job?" She spoke urgently and assertively.

Lin's eyes widened and she shook her head, "Mom, I don't know what you've had to do."

"I've _killed _people, Lin."

She was silent.

"This job isn't a joke. It isn't what I thought it would be when I was young and idealistic. It changes you. It hardens you. Everyday I went to work wondering if I'd get to see you two again...it breaks you."

A tear slid down Lin's left cheek, "I want to be a cop, Mama." she squeaked, "I can handle it. I'm really strong."

Toph let go of Lin's armrests and sat back in her chair. "I know you are. I'm just trying to protect you."

Lin nodded, "I know you are.."

"And I don't mean to scare you, but you need to be scared. You take out one bad guy and another one who is stronger than the last comes in. It's a cycle that never ends."

"I know."

Toph reached her right arm out and held the anxious hands folded in Lin's lap. "I want nothing more than for you to be happy."

Lin nodded, "this will make me happy."

Toph's eyes glistened and she quickly blinked the impending tears away, "this job won't make you happy. But I'll let you do it."

Lin sat up straight and her eyes widened with joy, "really? Why?"

"Because my love for you far surpasses my fears."

Lin sprang up from her chair and sat in Toph's lap, giving her a warm hug, "thank you so much, Mom! I won't let you down!"

Toph rubbed Lin's back with her left hand, then patted on it twice as a sign to get off.

Lin obeyed and stood up.

"Guess you need to get measured, huh?"

"For my uniform!" Lin jumped and clapped her hands.

Toph nodded and stood up, "go see Kaili and she'll handle it."

Lin ran over to the lounge where Kaili usually was.

Toph placed her left hand against her forehead and rubbed it, closing her eyes. She walked back over to her desk and opened the first drawer to the right, removing the taller of her two miniature dremel rock sculptures from it. She sat down in her black leather desk chair and stroked its face with her right index finger, then exhaled. She pressed the sculpture into her chest and leaned back.


End file.
